


Pièce Montée

by shaggydogstail



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Baking, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Tonks is doing her best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 13:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20310454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaggydogstail/pseuds/shaggydogstail
Summary: Tonks will do anything for Fleur, even tackle the fine art of pâtissier.At least, she'll try.





	Pièce Montée

The only downside sharing her life with another woman, Tonks decided, was the way people wanted to split them into neat categories; you do _this_ and she does _that._ Fleur was the feminine one; Tonks must be butch, despite the pink hair and (admittedly chipped) nail polish. Tonks was the Auror, so Fleur must be delicate and in need of protection, no matter who many grown men she made cry with a flick of her wand. Fleur was French and therefore sophisticated; Tonks’ Englishness must have made her far more uptight, right?

Tonks loved every bit of Fleur’s graceful poise, her beauty and her polished femininity. What she didn’t love was being put in a box. Happily, she’d come up with a plan that allowed her to please Fleur and defy expectations. Win-win.

‘Are you sure?’ asked her mother when Tonks popped round to borrow a cook book. ‘I do have a couple of books on pâtisserie but it’s very difficult. ‘

‘Yes, Mum, I’m sure,’ said Tonks. ‘I catch Dark Wizards for a living; I can handle some flour and eggs.’

‘I know you’re very talented,’ said Andromeda, and Tonks could practically feel the “but” flying towards her. ‘Being an Auror keeps you so busy, and these recipes are so time consuming. Why not just keep it simple? I’m sure Fleur would be just as happy with a nice Victoria Sponge.’

A Victoria Sponge, right. Plain and simple, full of good old-fashioned strawberry jam and perfect for English country fêtes. Of course. That wasn’t Tonks, though. Wasn’t what she wanted to give to Fleur.

‘I like a challenge,’ she said.

Andromeda rolled her eyes, but her smile was indulgent as she levitated a pile of cook books into Tonks’ arms. ‘Oh, I know you do.’

#

First step, reading. Tonks read the history of croquembouche, the debates about its origins, and more recipes than she could count. She studied the properties of different types of flour, and when to stir or not stir sugar, and the benefits of magical versus hand-whipping. Her mother hadn’t been exaggerating when she said it was complicated – but Tonks hadn’t been wrong either when she said she liked a challenge.

It took a few days to whittle down her choices, but Tonks was quietly confident about the recipe she’d settled on. Traditional vanilla -infused crème pâtissière to fill the profiteroles, lovely crunchy caramel to cover, and some crystallised violets to decorate. It was… ambitious, no doubt about that, but Tonks refused to be daunted. A bit of practice, she’d be fine.

All she need was space to work on her choux pastry.

#

‘I don’t know, are you going to be using my kitchen for illicit activities?’ Sirius sprawled over the worktop, narrowly avoiding a splodge of marmalade as he did so. 

‘I’m an Auror,’ Tonks reminded him. ‘You know very well I’m not going to be doing anything illegal.’

‘Shame, I’d definitely agreed if it was.’ Sirius grinned as Tonks groaned. ‘But why don’t you ask your mum? Her kitchen’s bigger than mine. Cleaner too, I reckon.’

Tonks glanced around. In truth Sirius’ kitchen wasn’t half as much of a disaster as her own. ‘The problem with Mum’s kitchen is that it’s in her house. I’ll never get any peace, and you know how she can’t resist helping. Before I know it she’ll have taken over and made the whole thing for me.’

‘Well, that sounds ideal,’ said Sirius, his expression turning thoughtful. ‘In fact, I may have just had a genius idea for Moony’s birthday…’

Tonks flicked a tea towel at him. ‘Less of you being a devious little shit, more about me impressing my girlfriend with my amazing culinary skills. Can I use your kitchen or not?’

‘Far be it from me to stand in the way of romance,’ said Sirius. ‘Promise me a taste of the test cakes and I’ll even give the cooker a quick Scourgify first.’

Tonks held out her hand. ‘Deal.’

#

Tonks hadn’t expected it to be easy; she just hadn’t expected it to be quite so hard either.

Her first attempts at choux pastry produced viciously hard little beige lumps which could break your teeth no matter how long they’d been dunked in tea first. Remus very kindly assured her they’d come in handy for playing fetch with Padfoot in the park, but Tonks was pretty certain he’d Vanished the lot the moment Tonks turned her back.

Her crème pâtissière split, stayed resolutely runny, or turned thick as cement. Tonks fed the failures to Sirius’ pet kneazle, an enormous, slovenly beast by the name of Hortense. Hortense gobbled down even the lumpiest offerings with slobbering enthusiasm, before vomiting the lot over Tonks’ boots.

The caramel was worst of all. ‘Boiling sugar and a very clumsy person,’ said Charlie, when Tonks asked to borrow some burns cream. ‘Not the best combination, is it?’

Sirius told her to just buy a cake. Kingsley suggested an admittedly excellent recipe for rum punch. Moody commending her dedication to making her own food instead of trusting anyone else’s, and reminded her to take her Sneakoscope round to Sirius.’ Rosmerta consoled Tonks as she nursed a large Firewhisky and her own sense of disappointment, and suggested that sexual favours were the best gifts of all.

Tonks had pictured herself becoming accomplished and faintly chic, presenting delicious delicacies as she floated on a cloud of vanilla-scented sex appeal. The reality was that she became a sweaty, sticky-haired mess who brandished a spatula like an offensive weapon and who had twice been reduced to tears by the misbehaviour of an egg. She looked and felt more like a vengeful sprite than a domestic goddess. 

A lesser woman might have listened to her friends and called it a day, but not Tonks. Every time she felt like giving up she thought of Fleur: beautiful and determined, with not a single shit to give for anyone who told her she couldn’t do anything she set her mind to.

Oh, how Tonks loved her. She would – and she could – do anything for her.

Three weeks, hours of work, one small fire, and at least two thousand profiteroles later, Tonks had finally made it. Her croquembouche was tall and sturdy, glittering with fine-spun caramel and glorious with sugar-spun violets. The profiteroles were golden, evenly sized, and (almost) perfectly balanced, each one oozing with creamily voluptuous filling. Fleur was sure to be impressed.

And Tonks was on for definite shag that night.

Back at home, she cleared every possible obstacle off the floor before using a meticulous Hover Charm to guide the cake to the dining table. Candlesticks were lit a careful distance away, to create a romantic ambience with warming the croquembouche. Checking her watch, Tonks saw she just had time for a quick wash and change into something nice and tight before Fleur got home from Gringott’s.

‘What is this?’ asked Fleur, blinking in the half-light.

‘A surprise, for you.’ Tonks felt embarrassed all of a sudden; worried that Fleur wouldn’t appreciate her efforts. Whatever had possessed her to attempt a French classic for her immaculate French girlfriend? 

Fleur circled the table, stealthy as a cat. ‘It is tremendous,’ she said. ‘You did all this yourself?’

‘Yes!’ Tonks grinned and bounced towards her, buoyed up with pride. _Fleur liked it, she really liked it!_ It made all of Tonks’ hard work well worth the effort; nothing made her happier than the sultry, satisfied smile that crept up Fleur’s face.

‘For me?’ asked Fleur, making no effort to disguise the fact that she knew fine well it was all for her. Only Fleur could make such stratospheric levels of smugness attractive. 

Tonks reached out to her, taking Fleur’s hand to pull her towards her for a kiss. It was a good move – romantic, sexy – and it would’ve been hot as hell if Tonks were a little less clumsy. As it was… Tonks wasn’t sure exactly how it happened, but moments later she was flat on her back, with Fleur at her side. They weren’t the only ones to have taken a tumble: the table lay on its side, and the croquembouche was had landed mostly on Tonks’ stomach. There were bits of it everywhere – profiteroles scattered across the floor, and a splodge of crème pâtissière on Tonks’ forehead. She’d bumped her head, and there was something crunchy in her hair.

She lay in stunned silence, too shocked to decide whether she should laugh or cry. It seemed rather a long time until she managed to turn her head towards Fleur and finally speak.

‘So much for my efforts at French desserts. I hope this doesn’t cause an international incident.’

Fleur crawled towards her, her expression gentle and concerned. ‘You are not hurt?’

Tonks managed a soft laugh. ‘Pride’s a bit wounded, but I’ll live.’

‘Good.’ Fleur smiled. ‘Of course, naturally French cuisine is the best in the world, but other cultures have some good ideas as well. Have you heard of _nyotaimori_? To celebrate victory in battle, the Samurai would dine off a naked woman. Of course, they usually had sushi, but I prefer something sweet.’

‘Oh.’ Tonks’ throat felt dry. ‘But I’m not naked.’

There was no need for her to add _yet_. With once graceful move, Fleur pulled out her wand and swept it along Tonks’ body, the incantation soft as a whisper. Tonks shivered at the delightful chill of nakedness, intently aware of Fleur’s cool gaze upon her. 

Tonks arched her back, letting thick, luscious dollops of crème pâtissière slide across her stomach, her hips, her breasts. Raised an eyebrow too, as she looked at Fleur. 

‘Fancy a taste?’

Fleur scooped up a generous portion, and then sucked it slowly, deliberately off her finger. She looked at Tonks like she was about to eat her whole.

‘Delicious.’

It seemed like Tonks did have a talent for dessert after all.

**Author's Note:**

> For more fun with Flonks, check out FlonksFest on [Tumblr](https://flonksfest.tumblr.com/) and [Dreamwidth](https://flonksfest.dreamwidth.org/)


End file.
